


Going for Gold

by ironicpotential



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Olympics, Curling, F/F, Fluff, Sports
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-03-26 01:36:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13847319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironicpotential/pseuds/ironicpotential
Summary: Freeskier Alex Danvers goes to PyeongChang to win gold, but leaves with something more valuable.Or, the Olympics AU with skier Alex and curler Maggie that I've been talking about forever and finally got around to writing.





	1. Chapter 1

Alex has always loved the way she feels at the top of a mountain.

The entire ride up the lift, adrenaline courses through her and she worries about landing all of her jumps and whether she’s included enough tricks in her run to please the judges. But the minute she gets to the summit and looks out onto the course, all of her fears, all of her doubts are gone. The world seems to slow down. Time itself freezes and it’s just her and the mountain. The crowd on the side of the course all but disappears, their cheering becoming nothing but white noise.

The wind whips her hair around her face as she secures her goggles - her father’s goggles - and grips her poles tightly. She closes her eyes and inhales, letting the cool winter air fill her lungs, and tries to center herself. She’s hyper-aware of her own heartbeat, steady and strong, pulsing down into her fingertips. All of the atoms in her body buzz with anticipation. But she isn’t nervous. Not anymore. She exhales, eyes snapping open, and she’s good. She’s grounded in the moment. She’s a cobra ready to strike. A panther ready to pounce.

She takes another deep breath, plants her poles into the snow, and pushes off.

Minutes later she finds herself sliding into the finish zone, heart thumping wildly, fingers shaking as she pushes her goggles up onto her helmet. She landed so clean on her last jump, making possibly the best run of her life. She gapes up at the scoreboard, twin-tip skis in hand, and she’s dimly aware of her coach clapping her on the shoulder, pulling her in for a one armed hug, his voice rumbling in her ear, “Your father would be so proud Alex. _I’m_ so proud.”

She did it. She’s going to the Olympics.

* * *

 

The next few months are a whirlwind of activity. She remembers this - sort of - from when her sister went to Rio two years ago to compete in swimming. Kara “The Super Girl” Danvers was all anyone could talk about in their small town of Midvale. She returned home a hero, with three gold medals around her neck, a sponsorship deal with CatCo Worldwide Media, and her face on a box of Wheaties.

Her family has never been a stranger to cameras though, even before Kara started competing on the international stage. Her father was renowned downhill skier Jeremiah Danvers after all. But largely it has been more practice than publicity for Alex. She’s not a hermit by any means, but she prefers to leave the talk show circuit to the sunnier sister. She loves freestyle skiing for the sport of it, not the fame. She loves the freedom that she feels when she’s in the air. The media might call her sister Super Girl, but when Alex hits those jumps, she’s the one with the ability to fly.

And her coach, John Jones, has been keeping her incredibly busy. A former Olympian himself, he has planned a strict exercise regimen for the weeks leading up to the Games. She has been training on the slopes for five, sometimes six hours a day, five days a week, supplemented by strength training and additional cardio.

That’s not to say that she hasn’t gotten her fair share of media attention, despite her busy schedule. Just last week, her mom called her eagerly from back home to rave about a story in the news on local Olympians. And she even got to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which is kind of a big deal. And yes, she knows that some of her notoriety is due to her famous father and sister, but she can’t help but feel a surge of pride in herself when she sees the magazine at the checkout in the grocery store. After all, she’s one of the very few athletes to compete in two Freeskiing events and she has worked so hard to get there. To be recognized for these achievements, to be told that she’s _Someone to Watch_? That feels good.

So yeah, even if might be her last name that got her the cover, she’s going to show the world that she deserves it the minute she hits the slopes.

* * *

 

The US athletes arrive in PyeongChang a few days before the opening ceremonies so that they can settle in and shake off the jet lag. Alex has done a fair bit of travel in her life for competitions, but she’s never been to South Korea and she’s a little bit in awe. The village is beautiful and teeming with life.

She ends up rooming with another freeskier, one of the Lane sisters that she recognizes from the X-Games. Moguls she thinks. Lucy exudes confidence and welcomes Alex into her “band of merry men” right away. Alex isn’t normally terribly social, but she likes Lucy and her ex-boyfriend James, an incredibly tall bobsledder. They invite her out for drinks that night, not taking no for an answer, and for once, she doesn’t find herself making an excuse to leave early.

* * *

 

A few hours and many beers later, she and Lucy bid goodbye to James and stumble down the hall to their room. Alex has to practically carry Lucy, who has taken to knocking on every door they pass.

They tumble into their room and Alex deposits her fellow skier on her bed before flopping down on her own.

Lucy turns to her and grins, “You know what Alex? You’re alright.”

“Yeah?”

“Hell yeah. Once you take that pole out of your ass, you’re a riot.”

Alex snorts and tosses a throw pillow at Lucy, who catches it and launches it right back. The pillow smacks Alex dead in the face and the two of them sit in stunned silence before bursting into giggles once again.

* * *

 

Alex makes sure that she is dressed and ready to head over to the stadium for the Opening Ceremonies early. Kara had asked her to “take lots and lots of pictures, Alex!!!” because she won’t be getting to South Korea for a few more days. Sponsorship obligations and all that. She’s disappointed that her sister will miss her first event, halfpipe, but she gets it. She'll have her mom and her coach for a cheering section and that will be enough.

Well. She’d _love_ to head over to the stadium early but her roommate is taking eight hundred years to do whatever it is she’s doing in the bathroom.

“Lucy! Lucy, come on,” Alex raps on the door for the third time. “I know it doesn’t take that long to do your hair and makeup. I know because I just did mine. In a quarter of the time.”

Lucy opens the door with an elbow, her hands busy with her mascara and her cell phone, “Perfection can’t be rushed. I’m young and hot and single and there’s a whole lot of other hot singles and I can’t be wasting this opportunity.”

Alex raises a single eyebrow at her roommate, “Uh huh.”

“Listen I’ve already got my eye on this hot Canadian speed skater I matched with on Tinder. She looks like a lot of fun,” Lucy pouts into the mirror before turning to Alex. “Does this shade look good?”

“It looks fine,” Alex huffs. She glances down at her watch.

“It’s called Tryst.”

“Oh my god, Lucy, let’s _go_ already.”

Lucy finishes with a wink at her reflection and tugs Alex out of the room, “C’mon, I heard that shirtless Tongan flag bearer is here again this year. I gotta see that up close.”

Alex shakes her head and rushes after her friend.

* * *

 

She was skeptical of their Opening Ceremony outfit when she first received it. The fringed gloves are… Really something. And she’s never been one for gaudy sweaters. But right now she has to say that this parka with it’s incorporated heating system is her favorite piece of clothing. She and the rest of the US Olympic Team are mulling about backstage waiting to be announced and it. Is. _Cold._ Alex spends a lot of time in the snow when she’s training in Colorado, but she’s still a California girl at heart.

She shifts back and forth, trying to shake off her nerves. Lucy has run off somewhere, presumably to find James and his bobsled partner, Winn, and Alex is left alone.

“Hey you’re Danvers, right?” she hears from beside her.

She whips around to find a short woman standing next to her, hands on her hips, head tilted to the side. She’s smirking, dimples prominent on her cheeks. And _god_ it should be illegal for anyone to look _that_ good in an oversized jacket.

“Yeah, you totally are. You’re Alex Danvers. You won gold at the X-Games in slopestyle. Not too shabby at halfpipe either,” the woman speaks again, shaking Alex from her daze.

“I… Uh. Yeah no that’s me. Danvers. Alex,” she manages.

The woman grabs her hand and squeezes it, smiling all the while, “Don’t be nervous, Danvers. This is the fun part.”

Alex is stunned silent as _The United States of America_ booms through the arena and the entire team shuffles as one into the stadium, whooping loudly. Her mystery woman lets go of her hand and saunters away, shooting Alex a wink over her shoulder and wow is it warm in the stadium now.

And boy, Kara had talked her ear off about the Opening Ceremonies in Rio, but none of her sister’s stories could have prepared her for the rush she feels as she hurries to catch up with her friends as they parade around. The lights are shining, there are cameras _everywhere_ , and it’s absolutely magical.

She’s at a loss for words. All she can do is smile and wave and take it all in.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow sorry this took so long! Hopefully the fact that this fic will be longer than initially planned makes up for the wait. Hope you all enjoy it!

Alex jolts awake at 7 am to the tune of her alarm blasting “One Week” at a volume that she really can’t deal with. She curses and fumbles blindly for the source of the ruckus, her phone, which she’s now knocked off of the bedside table. Great.

She retrieves her phone from underneath the bed and quickly shuts off the alarm. She’s got one text message from her sister, a string of sports-related emojis. Fairly on brand for Kara. And she’s relatively pleased to find that she actually remembered to plug it in before kicking off her boots and falling asleep on top of her duvet. And really that’s quite the feat after the night she’d had.

After the Opening Ceremonies, she had been dragged out to celebrate by Lucy and the rest of the freestyle skiers. They’d set up camp in the Athlete’s Lounge, although almost the entire Team USA apartment building had opened their doors for drinking and dancing and partying the night away.

She isn’t usually a hard-partier. Not anymore anyway. She’d been drifting for a while in her Freshman year of college. Partying too much, staying out all night and skipping class, showing up on the slopes hungover and unshowered from the night before. But then one night she’d been picked up outside her dorm for underage drinking by the police. Her father’s old skiing buddy, John Jones had showed up to pay her bail and as he drove her home, she’d broken down as he told her that he promised her dad that he would help her succeed.

It had taken plenty of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears - on both their parts - but she’d finally made it. And she’s so incredibly proud to have gotten as far as she has.

But this had been a special occasion, and Coach Jones had given her his blessing to “Go out and have a good time, Alex,” so she had allowed herself to let go. For the Opening Ceremonies even she could justify having a good time.

And it really had been worth it, despite the fact that she’s now keenly aware of every single muscle in her body. She stretches, groaning as her shoulder pops.  Probably a good idea to never try to match Lucy shot for shot ever again.

She reaches for the bottle of painkillers on the nightstand and takes two, washing them down with a bottle of water. Rehydration. That’s the key. Rehydration and something to take the edge off of her splitting headache.

The fact that she fell asleep still wearing her Opening Ceremony outfit probably didn’t help matters any. Well, most of her outfit anyway. She knows she had her parka when she and Lucy left the Athlete’s Lounge, but it appears to have disappeared somewhere between there and her room. And who knows where her gloves ended up. But she’s less concerned about those. _Good riddance._

At any rate, she desperately needs a shower.

She passes Lucy on her way to the bathroom, which thankfully is attached to their suite. Her roommate is passed out on the floor next to the small couch, using Alex’s parka as a makeshift pillow and snoring softly. Well, that’s one thing off of her morning checklist. Find parka: done. She grabs Lucy by the arms and hoists her up, despite garbled protests, and deposits her on her bed. She’ll thank her in a few hours when she wakes up without a crick in her neck.

Other than practice runs, she doesn’t really have anything to do today. It’s Saturday and her halfpipe qualifiers are on Monday, so she has plenty of time to get her bearings and mentally prepare herself.

Starting today it’s all focus all the time. No more distractions. She is here for one reason and one reason only: to win.

* * *

 An hour or so later, Alex finds herself facing down the halfpipe course.

It’s incredibly windy, which is a little concerning, but at least the pipe is well-made. She’d heard horror stories from her teammates about past competitions, and so she has been a little nervous.

After all, halfpipe isn’t her best event. She surprised even herself when she clinched the last spot on the team after the Olympic qualifiers. She’d only started skiing halfpipe at world cup events last year, but after a great performance at Tignes and at the qualifiers in Mammoth, here she was - representing her country in two events as the fourth discretionary pick. It’s a great honor and Alex just hopes she won’t let everyone down.

Coach Jones seems pleased with her practice runs though. She’s getting great amplitude and landing all of her tricks. She knows she’s a longshot to get on the podium, but she has to try.

She turns to trudge back up the hill for one more run but is stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t push yourself too hard, Alex.”

She pushes her goggles up onto her helmet and turns to face her coach, “I know, I just need to be ready. Everyone here is at the top of their game.”

“And you will be,” he pats her shoulder fondly. “But if you injure yourself in practice, you won’t be able to compete at all.”

Alex huffs. She knows he’s right. She’s seen too many of her teammates push themselves too hard and end up having to sit their events out and she’d never forgive herself if that happened. She has a lot to live up to. Especially after Kara’s swimming successes.

So, she relents, unclipping her skis and hefting them onto her shoulder before following her coach down the mountain and back towards the Olympic Village. At this point, she’s as ready as she’ll ever be for Monday.

* * *

When she gets back to her room, Lucy is blearily tugging on a team pullover.

“Look who’s back from the dead,” Alex chuckles.

She’s greeted with a grunt and a not-so-delicate hand gesture.

“I brought you a latte, there’s no need to be rude.”

Lucy visibly brightens at the mention of caffeine and eagerly accepts the offered cup. “Ugh, you’re a lifesaver. I take back anything bad I’ve ever said about you.”

Alex rolls her eyes and shimmies out of her ski pants. “Are you headed out to the slopes?”

“Nah, I took a few practice runs yesterday before the festivities.” Lucy pulls on a beanie and grabs her athlete badge off of her nightstand. “I’ve got my heart set on a real greasy lunch right now if you want to join? I’ve got the worst hangover.”

Alex zips up one of her warm-up tops. She could definitely eat. The protein bar she ate before practice wasn’t necessarily all that satisfying. “What are you thinking? McDonald’s?”

Lucy grins. “Oh absolutely.”

* * *

She’d of course done mountains of research on the Olympic Village before arriving. Everything she’d read and all the stories she’d heard compared the experience to living on a college campus. Kara in particular had raved about all of the friends she’d met.

Alex had lived off-campus when she was in college to make it easier for her to continue skiing while she attended classes, so she’s kind of looking forward to seeing what it’s all about.

The dorm type rooms are kind of charming. It reminds her a bit of her and Kara’s shared childhood bedroom. And while Lucy snores quite a bit louder than Kara ever did, it hasn’t really affected her own sleep schedule. Plus, Lucy doesn’t leave her clothes all over the place, which she can’t really say about her sister. What _is_ making it really hard for her to fall asleep is the incredibly loud music that has been emanating down the hall for the past two and a half hours. She’s already exhausted from her practice runs and the impromptu karaoke renditions of “Don’t Stop Believin’” have her at the end of her rope.

Alex sighs, rolling onto her back to stare up at the ceiling.

If only she were as heavy a sleeper as her roommate. Lucy had been out like a light the minute her head hit the pillow and Alex is pretty sure not even a heavy metal band could wake her up.

It’s really a pity that she has never been able to sleep with headphones or earplugs in.

A loud crash rings out, followed by hysterical laughter.

And that’s the last straw. She jumps out of bed, pulling on a light sweater over her pajama top, and storms out the door and down the hall. If it’s the snowboarders, she’s going to give them more than just a piece of her mind. She raps sharply on the door and prepares her best stern look.

A burly guy opens the door, a bottle of beer in one hand, and Alex immediately lays into him. “Listen you, I don’t care if you’re just here to party or whatever,” she snarls, poking at his chest with her index finger. “But some of us are _professionals_ and are _trying_ to sleep.”

“Woah hey calm down-”

Alex leans closer, looking him directly in the eye. “You are going to turn that music down _right now_ or I will come in there and turn it down for you.”

Suddenly, a small figure pulls him back into the room by his shirt and Alex finds herself face to face with a woman that she very much recognizes.

“Oh hey, Danvers, come to turn this into a pajama party?”

Alex splutters, caught off guard. “Excuse me?”

The other woman gestures at Alex. “I mean don’t get me wrong, they’re cute, but not really party clothes.”

Alex glances down at her red flannel pajama pants and feels her face heat up. She wraps her sweater tighter around herself. “I’m not interested in your party. Or any party.”

“I dunno, you looked like you were having a blast the other night. I was pretty impressed, you can _dance_.”

Alex bristles at the way the woman smiles easily at her. Her eyes are shining with mirth and - wait, is she flirting? She frowns. “Listen-”

“Wait, wait,” the woman holds her hands out in front of her face in surrender. “Look I think we got off on the wrong foot here. I’m Maggie Sawyer, women’s curling.”

Maggie holds her hand out for Alex to shake and Alex takes it, the fight slowly draining out of her. She’s exhausted and Maggie’s hands are soft, and her smile is kind and Alex just really, really wants to sleep.

Maggie sticks her hands in her pockets and leans up against the doorframe. “I’ll tell these hooligans to knock it off, okay?”

Alex nods. “Yeah. Thanks…”

Maggie smiles at her again. “No, thank you for not eviscerating the men’s skip. We kind of need him.”

Okay she may have overreacted a little bit there. Alex shrugs one shoulder, biting her lip. “Yeah, um sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it. Have a good night okay?”

“You too, Sawyer.”

Alex turns back down the hall and makes her way to her room. When she reaches her door, she turns back around to find Maggie still leaning up against the doorframe of the other room. The curler gives her a little wave and Alex waves back before disappearing inside.

She climbs back into bed and sleeps soundly the rest of the night.

* * *

Alex is brushing her hair the next morning when she hears a knock on the door.

She’s not expecting anyone. Her mom just got in this morning, but she’s probably going to spend most of the day adjusting to the time change, so it can’t be her. And anyway, she couldn’t get into the Village on her own.

The knocking continues, harder this time, and Alex sighs, setting down her hairbrush.

She prepares herself to stare down what is probably another one of Lucy’s tinder dates before peering through the peephole. To her surprise, Maggie stands at her door holding two coffee cups and a bag tucked under her arm.

She pulls open the door and Maggie smiles sheepishly at her, head cocked to one side, “Hungry, Danvers?”

Alex waves her inside. “Yes, wow thank you.” She takes one of the cups and watches curiously as Maggie paces around by the door fiddling with the lid of her own cup. She’s nervous. Why is she nervous?

Maggie stops to face Alex, seemingly having made a decision. “So, I wanted to apologize about last night, I feel terrible.”

Alex waves off the thought. “It’s really fine, I definitely overreacted. And the coffee is helping. And - oh are these doughnuts?” Alex opens the bag. “Oh my god they _are_ doughnuts. Yeah this definitely makes up for last night.”

“I’m really glad.” Maggie’s shoulders sag in relief. She looks smaller now than she did before, which Alex finds amusing because she’s actually wearing a sweater that fits her today. It looks soft too… She’s looking up at Alex like she wants to say something more, but the moment never comes.

Instead they eat their doughnuts in silence, Alex sitting on her own bed and Maggie facing her from Lucy’s. It should be awkward, sitting like this with a woman she barely knows, but Maggie exudes a sort of calm. Her smile is disarming. And Alex finds that she really does enjoy her company. And the fact that Maggie is really rather attractive is definitely not lost on her.

About halfway through her second doughnut, Alex finally decides to break the silence. “Thank you for this. I don’t usually have breakfast in the mornings.”

Maggie chuckles, “I figured as much. You seem the type.”

“And what type is that?”

“The type of person who has a lot going on. So busy that you forget things like eating breakfast. It’s not a bad thing.”

Alex raises one eyebrow. “So, is this your way of volunteering yourself as my personal breakfast delivery girl?”

“Why Danvers, do you like my company that much?”

She can’t deny that she does. She only just met the curler, but already they’ve settled into an easy back-and-forth. And while Alex often finds it hard to open up, even to her friends, being around Maggie makes her feel completely exposed. She’s normally pretty unshakable. She can stare down a black diamond slope with zero fear, can sit through probing press conferences, but she can’t seem to keep herself together around this woman. Especially when Maggie smiles at her like that, all dimples and twinkling eyes. Thank god Lucy wasn’t around or she’d never hear the end of it.

Alex shrugs one shoulder, biting her lip. “Well I can think of worse people to hang out with.”

Maggie barks out a laugh and pops the last of her doughnut into her mouth, licking the frosting off of her fingers. “So, listen, Danvers. Alex. I didn’t just come by to smooth things over.” She picks at a few loose threads on her sweater. “I was actually wondering what you were doing today.”

Alex shrugs. She hadn’t really put much thought into it, other than maybe getting a massage. She doesn’t have that many friends here. The few she does have are either competing or training. And it’s not like she has anyone to call, other than her sister.

“I thought maybe we could get to know each other,” Maggie continues. “Maybe have a drink?”

She tilts her head, waiting for Alex’s response, a small hopeful smile playing at her lips. If Alex didn’t know any better, she’d think Maggie were asking her out. Wait. Is Maggie asking her out? Her pulse quickens at the thought. She hasn’t dated in a long time. Not seriously anyway. She’d had a few dates in college with guys she doesn’t care to remember. And one woman, right after coming out a few years ago, but nothing recently. Not since she became a more public figure.

Alex finds herself nodding in agreement. “I’d really like that.”

The curler grins and claps her hands together. “Fantastic! I know this great place. A really well-kept secret. I think you’re gonna love it.”

* * *

Maggie is holding her hand.

She’s holding her hand and dragging her through the streets of the Olympic Village, ducking and weaving around athletes of all shapes and sizes. She keeps looking back at Alex, her eyes alight with excitement and even though it’s crowded and noisy, Alex feels like they’re the only two people in the world.

Maggie’s ‘secret place’ ends up being the Canadian apartment building. Considering the constant flow of people in and out of the building, Alex is skeptical about how secret it really is. She stops in front of the steps, bringing Maggie to a halt with her. “You know, if you wanted to hang out in the athlete’s lounge, we could have stayed back in our team building.”

Maggie squeezes her hand and tugs her forward again. She may be small but she’s _strong_ and Alex finds herself wondering, not for the first time, how often she works out.

She allows herself to be led up the steps into the building and past several friendly Canadians, all of whom wave to Maggie. They’ve only been here for a few days, but Alex isn’t surprised that Maggie seems to know everyone already.

They stop in front of the elevators and Alex finally has a chance to breathe. “So, are you finally going to tell me what we’re here for, Sawyer?”

Maggie presses the button to the top floor, and grins at Alex, looking every bit like the Cheshire cat. The elevator dings and they step inside. Maggie presses the button for the roof and rubs her thumb against the back of Alex’s hand comfortingly. “Do you trust me, Danvers?”

Alex pauses, looking down at their entwined hands and then back up at Maggie. She might be known for gravity-defying flips and daring jumps, but she’s so incredibly cautious in her personal life. And that suits her just fine. If she never lets anyone in, she never has to get hurt.

But when Maggie looks at her like that, all mischief and raw magnetism… She’d say yes to just about anything. So, she does, giving Maggie a resolute nod and squeezing Maggie’s hand in return.

* * *

They end up on the roof.

Set up all around are a variety of chairs, dragged up from various rooms as well as some coolers filled with drinks. Music is playing from a small speaker in the corner and there’s a collection of athletes from all different countries mingling together. Twinkle lights have been strung up somewhat haphazardly, some of the strands still tangled.

Alex turns to Maggie. “Wow, what is all this?”

Maggie sweeps an arm across the scene. “The Pride House. Or, well a party hosted by it. A place for people like us to hang out, have a drink. Not feel so alone for a minute.”

“People like us?”

Maggie’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. “Wow I guess I really read things wrong. I thought my gaydar was pretty good...”

“No! No. I... You didn’t read things wrong. I’m gay, I just… Wow. I didn’t think there were so many…”

“More than you’d think right? Can I get you a drink?”

Alex nods, still a bit awed, and Maggie leads her to bench near a quieter part of the roof and motions for her to sit. She grabs two beers from a nearby cooler and hands one to Alex before taking a seat next to her.

Alex looks out at the throng of people, laughing and chatting freely, taking a long sip from the bottle. “This is amazing, Maggie.”

Maggie gives her a little shrug. “It’s the best I could do for a first date with such short notice.”

Alex bites her lip. “So, this is a date?”

“I’d hoped so. If that’s okay with you?”

Alex feels warmth spread through her body. She feels weightless. “It’s most definitely okay. How did you know though?”

“Hm?”

“How did you know I was gay? I’m not out”

Maggie chuckles. “Clearly you don’t google yourself on the Internet, Danvers. You’re a lesbian sports icon.”

Alex almost chokes on her beer. “Excuse me?”

“Oh yeah. Twitter went bananas after that Sports Illustrated feature.”

Her face burns. She had no idea. She’s never really been one for keeping up with social media. She’s got an Instagram, sure, but she can’t remember the last time she posted anything that wasn’t a mountain vista… Her sister on the other hand… She makes a mental note to ask Kara about setting up a Twitter handle to investigate.

Maggie cocks her head and smirks. “Plus, the way you were staring at my ass during the Opening Ceremony was a big clue.”

Alex knows she’s blushing now, if she wasn’t already. “I wasn’t-”

“I didn’t say I minded.”

Maggie is biting her lip now and Alex desperately wants to kiss her. Instead she finishes her beer to try to calm her nerves.

* * *

They stay up on the roof for hours, long after everyone else starts to leave, only taking the elevator back down when a few of the Canadians come after them with hockey sticks. They giggle to each other all the way back to the U.S. apartments and even as the cold wind whips through her hair and cuts at her cheeks, Alex feels warmer than she has in years.

They stop outside Alex’s room, neither wanting to part ways. She knows she should bid Maggie goodnight, it’s one in the morning and her halfpipe qualifications are at 10 am, but she can’t seem to pull herself away. Maggie is caressing the back of Alex’s hand with her thumb and is looking at her so tenderly, Alex is sure she’s practically melting all over the hallway.

She lets out an involuntary sigh and Maggie smiles.

“I had a really great time tonight, Danvers.”

“Me too. I just… I really like you, Sawyer. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this good just… Standing on solid ground. And wow please stop me because everything coming out of my mouth is very cliched.”

“It’s called being happy, Danvers, get used to it.” Maggie tucks Alex’s hair behind her ear and steps a little closer, moving her hand to caress her cheek. “I really like you too, you know. But you’ve got to ski in a few hours, so...”

Alex pouts, giving Maggie her best puppy dog eyes. “Can’t we just… Forget skiing and stay in this hallway forever?”

“I don’t know about forever, but maybe...” Maggie trails off, her tongue darting out from her mouth to wet her lower lip. She leans in slowly and Alex realizes that wow. Okay. This is it. Maggie’s going to kiss her.

Her heart speeds up even as the entire world seems to slow down and she’s leaning down to meet Maggie and suddenly Maggie’s lips are on hers. Her eyelids flutter shut as she deepens the kiss, her hands finding purchase on the curler’s waist, aware of nothing else but Maggie’s lips and Maggie’s tongue and Maggie’s hand sliding down to her neck to pull her even closer.

She lets out a small moan and Maggie pulls away with a nervous chuckle.

Alex feels breathless. “Wow.”

“Wow.” Maggie repeats, a wide grin overtaking her face. “How’s that for a good luck kiss?”

Alex can’t help but mirror her grin. “Feels like I’ve already won.”

“Okay you nerd, off to bed with you.” She gives Alex one last quick peck and starts off down the hall towards her own room. “I’ll see you tomorrow on the slopes! Hope you like a cheering section!”

Alex waits until Maggie disappears into her room to open the door. She closes it behind her and leans up against it, sighing happily.

Any nerves she may have had during her practice run were gone, replaced by the unfamiliar feeling of fuzziness and warmth.

Maggie Sawyer likes her.

Maggie Sawyer _kissed_ her.

And at this moment, she feels unstoppable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And a special thanks to Lurkz for being so lovely and giving great input and feedback.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [TaFuilLiom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaFuilLiom/profile) for geeking out about this au with me. This is so much longer than I ever anticipated it being.  
> See end notes for some cool extras!

Most Olympic athletes have some sort of routine. Some kind of ritual to give them good luck or to stave off the anxiety before an event. It can be something as simple as wearing a specific pair of socks or eating an orange before lining up at the start line.

Kara used to make the entire family sit in the car and listen to “It’s Gonna Be Me” by N*Sync before each swim meet when they were kids. Even at the Rio games, she could be seen by the side of the pool with her headphones in her ear, mouthing the words and bopping along to the beat.

For Alex, she has to wear her goggles. Her father’s goggles. She knows there are better ones available on the market now - she’s seen the Prizm lens technology in Oakley’s new sport line - and she’s even been offered sponsorship deals to wear them, but somehow it feels wrong. These are special. When she’s out there facing down the pipe, she wants to have her father with her.

She’s not a superstitious person, but the other skiers are absolute beasts in the pipe and she can use all of the luck she can get.

* * *

 

 She arrives at Phoenix Snow Park early to take it all in.

It’s an absolutely gorgeous day. The sun is shining, the snow looks perfect, and the crowds are already starting to fill in the area down at the bottom of the pipe. She’s fairly sure her mom is down there already too.

She can’t help but feel a little bit nervous though. It’s not that she doesn’t feel prepared. She knows that with all the practice she and Coach Jones have done, she’s got everything she needs to put down a medal-winning run. And while it’s true that she’s a bit older than most of the other first time competitors - missing her opportunity to compete in Sochi due to season-ending injuries - she’s absolutely at the top of her game.

She’s coming into the event ranked #7 out of 24 and she has two runs to show the judges what she’s got. They’re not only looking for perfection in execution, but for progression, amplitude, variety of tricks, and difficulty. She’s got to be the total package if she’s going to be making it into the finals.

Only twelve freeskiers are getting through and Alex Danvers is going to be one of them.

She stretches at the top of the halfpipe, half-listening to the announcers blabber on about the other skiers’ runs.

Her phone buzzes with a text message and she struggles to unlock her phone with her gloves on.

>> From Sawyer: Good luck, Danvers. I’m here rooting for you ;)

The text is accompanied by a photo of a grinning Maggie with an American flag painted on her cheek.

Alex tries hard to contain her smile, hiding it behind her hand, but she can’t help the tiny giggle that escapes her. Maggie was here. She was here to see her.

Her Coach clears his throat behind her and she hands him her phone. He squeezes her shoulder and gives her a quick nod. “You’ve got this, Alex.”

She gives him a quick salute and skis down to the start point.

She takes a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

And then she enters the pipe.

She comes in strong with big straight air right off the bat. She’s operating entirely on muscle memory. She’s one with the pipe.

She starts off with her signature trick, an alleyoop Japan into a massive left side 900. She’s getting enormous amplitude all the way down the halfpipe and her adrenaline is off the charts.

She hits a left 540 into a right 7 binding mute and as she slides into the finish zone she hears the crowd roar. And she knows she’s probably imagining it, but she’s pretty sure she can hear Maggie’s voice among the din, cheering just for her.

She waits there, down at the bottom, just staring at the screen. She almost can’t breathe.

The score flashes up on the board: 90.3.

One of her best halfpipe runs to date.

On her second run, she stumbles a bit, but it doesn’t matter. Her score has her placed squarely in third going into the finals.

* * *

She’s still not used to the reporters.

She probably should be, considering they’ve been a presence in her life since she was a kid.

She still remembers the day when her father had won his own gold medal at the ‘94 Olympics in Lillehammer. Her mom had taken her to watch her dad compete, and when he won, she had gotten to sit on his shoulders as he’d told the entire world that the thing he was most proud of wasn’t his record breaking performance, but his family.

He always was great in front of a camera.

She’s never had his gift for gab. Not like Kara. She’s the media darling of the family now.

A little voice in the back of her head that sounds suspiciously like Coach Jones chastises her for being dramatic. She might not be America’s Sweetheart, but she can manage not to embarrass herself for a quick five minute chat. After all, she got through her Sports Illustrated interview just fine.

She takes a deep breath, as if preparing for battle, and trudges through the snow over to a reporter from NBC that has been trying to catch her eye.

The reporter beams at her excitedly and introduces herself as Eve. She’s energetic certainly, the type of girl her sister would get along well with.

Alex manages a smile.

Eve shoves her microphone at Alex. “Wow, Alex Danvers. That was absolutely amazing. It must feel so good to know that you’ll be in the finals tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I uh… it was a great run. I’m really happy with it.” Alex shifts her skis awkwardly from one hand to another. She really should have left them with Coach Jones.

Eve nods vigorously, making her look a little bit like the bobble head toys Winn brought to South Korea for good luck. “Now you come from a long line of Olympic greats. Do you feel like that puts more pressure on you to win?”

She’s not really sure how to answer that. She has a lot to prove, sure. She wants to prove to herself that she’s got what it takes. To show her coach that believing in her wasn’t a waste of his time. To get recognition for her own accomplishments… But she’s not about to admit any of that to a reporter.

Instead she just shrugs. “I think we all want to win. That’s why we are all here… So I’m just going to give it my all, and I guess we will see what happens tomorrow.”

A canned answer only sort of answering the question, but it’ll do. Eve seems to accept it at least.

“Well on a more personal note,” the reporter’s eyes shine with glee as she shifts gears. “Your sister made headlines not only for her wins, but for the epic romance between her and fellow swimmer Mike Matthews.”

Alex has to try really hard not to roll her eyes at that. The last thing she wants to do is answer questions about her sister’s love life. She’s not very fond of Kara’s boyfriend, but she knows better than to make her feelings on the matter known to the public. The tabloids already had a field day with all of Mike’s antics at the Rio games, she doesn’t need to make it worse for Kara now by speaking badly of him.

The reporter presses on. “Has anyone caught the eye of the elder Danvers here?”

Oh. Well that’s definitely not the direction she thought this was going. Her eyes drift out into the crowd off their own accord, easily finding Maggie. The curler beams at her as she works her way through the crowd towards Alex.  

Eve leans in conspiratorially. “Ahhh, I know that look. There is someone!”

Alex quickly shakes her head. She’d totally forgotten she was still in an interview and Eve seems to have taken her silence as confirmation. Time to shut this down. “No it’s. No. There’s no one. Sorry you know I actually… Uh I think I see my mother, sorry!”

Alex gives Eve an apologetic look as she darts away before the reporter can press her further, almost tripping over a snowbank in her haste.

She’d had one date with Maggie. And while there’s definitely something between them, she wants it to remain exactly that. Between _them_. Not between her and Maggie and Channel Four.

She’s nowhere near ready for that.

She knows it’s 2018. Knows that these things are more accepted. But she also knows that it’s not about who she loves. Not really. It’s sponsorships and national attention and she’s heard horror stories… And it’s still so new. She kind of likes having Maggie all to herself.

She motions to Maggie to meet her a little ways away from the crowd, out of sight of Eve and her camera. She pulls off her helmet and tucks her hair behind her ear as Maggie approaches, trying to make herself more presentable. “Hey, Sawyer. Thanks for coming to watch.”

Maggie smiles. “I wouldn’t have missed it. You were amazing, you know that? I don’t know a thing about skiing, but I’m pretty sure you broke like seven records out there.”

Alex ducks her head to hide her blush. “Psh what? No…”

Maggie touches her arm. “No really, you were something out there.”

“Thanks, Sawyer.”

Maggie slides her hand down Alex’s arm and quickly squeezes her hand. “Well, Danvers, normally I’d take you out for a drink to celebrate, but I’ve got a round robin match to get to… Maybe I’ll see you later?”

“I could come and watch you?” Alex offers.

Maggie shakes her head. “No, no. You stay. Your family is here, right?”

“Kara gets in tomorrow night, but my mom is over there.” Alex points to where her mother is talking to her coach.

“See? Go celebrate making the finals. I’ll text you?”

“I’d really like that.” Alex smiles shyly at Maggie. “Good luck.”

“I don’t need luck with you rooting for me.”

Maggie sets off back down the hill, turning around once to flash Alex a smile. Alex watches her go until she’s out of sight, sighing happily before trudging through the snow over to her mom, who is chatting with her coach off to the side.

She’s greeted with a hug and it’s about as awkward as Alex expected it to be. They’ve never been particularly touchy-feely, especially after the death of her father, but they’ve been trying. Her mom came to see her after all. And that’s a step up from citing work emergencies to skip her competitions as a teenager.

Eliza wraps an arm around Alex’s shoulder. “Why don’t you and I go have some lunch, dear? I’d love to catch up.”

Lunch she can do.

* * *

They end up at the House of Switzerland, near YongPyong Resort, home of the slalom events. It’s one of the more relaxed team houses, and she thinks her mom might enjoy the fresh air.

Alex manages to snag two Adirondack chairs on the wooden deck, not far from one of the fire pits, and settles in with a cup of coffee. There’s a few kids out on the small skating rink outside, laughing and chasing each other around with hockey sticks as accordion music plays softly in the background.

Eliza takes a sip of her own drink, looking past Alex’s head at a large screen replaying highlights from previous alpine events.

She sighs contentedly, smiling at her daughter. “This is nice. Much calmer than Rio. And so much culture.”

Alex glances around. “Yeah, I’ve seen a few of the other houses. Lucy and I went to Czech House with Winn and James when we got here. Good food.”

“Oh you’ve been going out?” Her mother raises an eyebrow. “I’m surprised.”

Alex crinkles her brow. “Why does that surprise you?”

“Well your event was so early on, I’d have expected you to be practicing.”

Alex tightens her jaw. It’s not that she didn’t expect this kind of criticism. Her mom has always pushed her to succeed. But she’d kind of figured she would lay off a bit once she’d become an adult. Or at least once she’d made it to the Olympics.

“I have been. John told me to relax. He took my skis.”

Her mom smiles at her indulgently. “I just know how much it means to you to win. And your sister focused solely on swimming right up until the finals and look how well she did.”

Alex takes a long swig of her coffee, wishing it were spiked with something a little stronger to calm her trembling hands.

Eliza places her hand on Alex’s knee. “You did wonderfully though, Alex.”

She ducks her head down and scratches behind her neck. “Thanks, mom.”

“I do worry about you with all of those jumps though. Downhill skiing is so much safer. I still don’t know why you switched.”

And _there_ it is.

Eliza Danvers means well. She really does. And Alex knows this. But that doesn’t make her subtle disapproval sting any less.

They’ve never really seen eye to eye. If it wasn’t about choosing freestyle over alpine skiing it would be something else. This last Thanksgiving was particularly fraught considering Kara had brought someone home for the first time. Her mom had welcomed Mike with open arms - despite his less than stellar reputation - and then turned around and suggested to her that she should spend less hours in the lab or training so that she could find someone as well.

Alex sighs inwardly and tries to smile. “I know, mom. I’m careful though. And I train incredibly hard to be able to do what I do safely.”

“I know dear. I just never have to worry like this with your sister.”

Alex can concede that point at least. It’s not like Kara is out there trying to race sharks.

“She’s so excited to get here,” Eliza continues. “I know she felt terribly that she had that interview scheduled today. But you know, you can’t turn down _The Today Show_ can you?”

Alex tries not to roll her eyes. “No, I suppose you can’t.”

“She sent me pictures of the outfit she’s wearing you know.” Eliza pulls out her phone and turns it to Alex. “Doesn’t she just look great?”

Alex sets down her mug on the side table. “Oh. Yeah. That’s great.”

She can hear her mother huff and she knows what’s coming.

“Alex, why can’t you be happy for your sister? She has worked so hard for this and she needs the support of her family.”

 _Kara_ needs the support? Kara, whose Olympics were _two years ago_ needs the support?

“She’s doing press for _Dancing with the Stars_ , mom, not preparing for surgery.”

“Alexandra Danvers!”

“It’s _Alex_ , mom!” She stands from her chair, clenching her fists. “Or did you forget which daughter you’re actually here to see?”

Eliza frowns. “ _Alex_ , sit down you’re causing a scene.”

Alex takes a deep breath and bites her lip. “You’re supposed to be here for me mom. But all you can talk about is Kara this, or Kara that. Fuck,” she laughs humorlessly. “If her interview was airing during my competition, you’d probably be back at the hotel trying to find it on the internet somewhere.”

“That is out of line, Alexandra.”

She shakes her head, defeated. “Nothing I do is ever enough for you, mom.”

She hears her mother calling out to her, but she’s already halfway down the hill back towards her own building, trying not to let the tears fall.

* * *

Alex wasn’t planning on going out after her qualifiers initially, particularly because she has one of the most important competitions of her life in the morning, but Lucy and the boys were especially persuasive.

Okay, if she’s being honest, it didn’t take much convincing at all. When Lucy had texted her to invite her to hang out with them, she had still been keyed up from her disastrous lunch with her mother. Being around good company was just the kind of distraction she needed.

She meets them at the USA House’s bar, where they’ve taken over a small table in the corner. Winn is the first to notice her, standing up and waving a bottle of beer in the air, calling out at her from across the bar. “Hey, hey! Alexxxxx! Alex Danvers! Danger Danverssss!”

Alex raises an eyebrow at him as she takes a seat next to Lucy. “Is he drunk already?”

James chuckles. “He’s kind of a lightweight.”

“And we’re celebrating,” Lucy interjects, motioning to the silver medal around her neck.

“Lucy! Congratulations!”

Lucy salutes the table before taking a swig of her drink. “Thank you, thank you. Just doing my duty for this fine country.”

“You too, Alex!” Winn claps her on the shoulder. “That last trick? Legendary!”

Alex scratches the back of her neck, a small smile playing at her lips. “Thanks you guys.”

She sits back and sips at the glass of water James hands her. He and Winn are regaling Lucy with stories of their bobsledding escapades, Winn’s hands waving wildly through the air as he describes a near wipe out. Lucy nods and laughs at his antics, her fingers going to her medal every so often, just to make sure it’s still there. Like she can’t even believe it’s real. Alex isn’t used to this kind of camaraderie. Much of her socialization in college consisted of parties or study groups. But this. This feels good.

For the first time in a long time, Alex has friends.

Her phone buzzes and she slips it out of her pocket, looking at it under the table.

>> From Sawyer: Guess who rocked it out on the ice ;)

Alex grins down at her phone and quickly texts a reply.

>> To Sawyer: Hmm, I’m going to guess… You?

Lucy gives her a look, one eyebrow raised, as if to say, “We _will_ be talking about this later.”

Alex shoves her phone back in her pocket, embarrassed at being caught and redirects her attention back to the boys.

Winn and James say their goodbyes after a little while, James citing a need to get an increasingly tipsy Winn to bed, despite the early hour.

That leaves Alex and Lucy at their little table, Lucy’s beer long gone warm. Lucy drains the last of it and leans back in her chair. “So. Have you slept with her yet?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Alex splutters.

"The girl you’re texting. You keep looking at your phone and smiling.”

Alex’s eyes widen in alarm.

Lucy laughs. “Relax, this isn’t some kind of interrogation.”

“Okay but how did you…?” Alex trails off. She’s not quite sure how to ask what she wants to ask.

Lucy leans in. “How did I know it’s a girl?”

Alex glances around nervously, “I mean. Yes?”

“Well I wasn’t positive, but thanks for the confirmation there.”

“Lucy!”

The other skier places a comforting hand on Alex’s shoulder. “I won’t tell anyone if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Yeah… I. Thanks.”

“I _do_ want all the juicy details though.” She wiggles her eyebrows at Alex. “You never answered my question.”

“It’s. It’s not like that okay?” Alex fidgets on her barstool, pushing her hair behind her ear. “I mean. Okay, I did kiss her but-”

“You kissed her! Look at you, Alex. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Alex shrugs, a small smile playing at her lips at the thought of Maggie. “Me either, but she’s… She’s really great. We’re taking things slow.”

“Good for you.” Lucy smiles at her and Alex beams.

A few of the other skiers come over to their table, covered in snow, and Alex uses that as her chance to make a polite exit. It’s getting a bit late and even though she’s fairly sure she will be too nervous to sleep, she’d at least like to curl up in bed and relax.

When she gets back to her room, she has another notification of a text from Maggie. It’s a selfie of the curler, grinning ear to ear, holding her broom up so that it’s visible in the frame. The picture is quickly followed by a text message.

>> From Sawyer: I want to sweep you off your feet, Danvers.

Alex can’t help but chuckle at that as she traces picture Maggie’s dimples.

She really never thought she’d feel this way. She thought she’d never get the butterflies in her stomach or the lightness in her chest that her sister talked about when they’d lie in their makeshift pillow forts and talk about crushes. Every time she went out with a guy it was like she was playing a part. It wasn’t real, hazy around the edges. Like someone else’s life. She spent years using her studies to avoid going out on dates. And while she eventually agreed to go to the prom, she turned her head at the last minute when her date tried to kiss her. She even resorted to saying that was busy washing her hair the one time her Chemistry TA asked her out in college.

But when Stacy Reynolds kissed her behind the ski lodge on her 21st birthday, things slowly started to slide into focus and the amount of time she spent talking about her very female ski instructor when she was a teenager started to make a lot more sense. She and Stacy dated for a few months - nothing serious, just dinner and a movie here or a trip to the museum there. But she didn’t feel a real connection. She had never felt that spark with anyone. Nothing that made her feel the way that Kara had described all those years ago. Nothing that came close to the way she feels on the slopes. Like she’s limitless.

Until Maggie.

Just that one flirty text from the curler was enough to send her heart soaring.

She’s drawn to Maggie Sawyer. She wants Maggie Sawyer.

And Maggie Sawyer wants her too. 

* * *

Maggie stops by the morning of the halfpipe finals, brandishing a cup of coffee, a protein bar, and a kiss that warms Alex more than any caffeinated drink could.

She pulls away slowly, still framing Maggie’s face with her hands, and a sigh escapes her lips.  

Maggie rests her own hands on Alex’s shoulders, slowly rubbing circles with her thumbs.  Maggie always handles her so delicately. Not like she is afraid Alex will break, but like Maggie thinks she’s precious. A work of art she can’t look away from.

Maggie pulls her in for a second kiss and Alex smiles as they break apart, eyes still closed, just soaking in the feeling of being with Maggie. She starts to pull away and Alex can’t help but whimper. Maggie laughs, full and rich, music to Alex’s ears/ “I have to go camp out a spot at the bottom so I can see you.”

“Thank you for coming to watch. It… it means a lot.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Maggie gives her hand a quick squeeze before taking her own travel mug of coffee and opening the door. “Good luck, Alex. I’ll see you at the bottom.”

* * *

Her first run in the finals is good. 86.80 is definitely a score to be proud of, and it places her at the top of the pack early on.

Her second run is a disaster. The wind picks up, making it more difficult and more dangerous to ski, landing her with a 50.80. Not as bad as some of the others, but certainly not anywhere near her best. Or even her average. At least she’d gotten lucky and managed to at remain upright.

But her third and final run? Near perfect, putting her squarely in third place with a 90.8. A medal position.

All she has to do now is wait. As long as none of the remaining skiers score higher, she will be standing up on that podium, smiling proudly as a bronze medal is placed around her neck. All of her hard work - all of the extra hours spent practicing for a second event - will have paid off.

There’s one last skier to go - the Norwegian woman that had placed first in the qualifying rounds. If she scores better than Alex or the skiers currently sitting in first or second place, Alex will be knocked from the podium. And she knows there’s a chance of that, but the weather conditions have been unpredictable and the Norwegian had a rough go of it in her second run as well, so it’s hard to say what will happen.

She's squeezing her fists together, trying to stay calm, he coach’s arm around her shoulder. His presence always comforting - the father figure she desperately needed during the darkest time of her life.

The Norwegian skis well - incredibly well - and Alex is almost sick with anticipation as the entire Snow Park stops and waits for the result.

The crowd erupts as the score flashes up on the board: 91.60.

It’s a 91.60 and Alex is knocked from third to fourth.

She’s dazed. She had known this entire time that winning was a long shot, but she still had hoped there was a chance. Her coach pulls her in for a hug, and she realizes faintly that she’s crying.

He squeezes her tighter, his gruff voice murmuring in her ear. “You gave it your best out there and I am so proud of you Alex.”

Her tears turn to sobs that she muffles in his puffy coat.

She tried her best.

But her best wasn’t enough.

She’s never enough.

* * *

She sneaks away back to the team house. She can’t face her mother right now. Can’t face the disappointment or the inevitable, “You should have focused solely on slopestyle. Splitting your time clearly wasn’t the most logical decision.”

Lucy is there when she gets back to her room and her bloodshot eyes must tell the story for her because thankfully her roommate doesn’t say a word.

She mechanically removes her jacket and ski pants, climbing into bed in only her boxer briefs and undershirt. She pulls the covers up over her head to block out the world, tears flowing freshly onto her pillow.

Minutes later, there is a knock on the door. Lucy must answer because it creaks open. She can’t quite make out who it is, their voices are muffled by her comforter, but Lucy leaves after a short conversation, bidding Alex a much louder goodbye.

A weight presses down on her bed and a hand comes to rest on where the blanket covers her shoulder.

“Hey Alex, I hope you don’t mind that I stopped by.”

It’s Maggie.

Oh.

_Oh no._

The last thing she wants is for Maggie to see her like this.

“Please… please go away…” she sniffles.

“I’m not leaving you like this, Alex. Come here, sit up.”

Maggie’s voice is gentle. So, so gentle and Alex’s heart swells. She allows Maggie to lift the blanket off of her face and sits up slowly.

Alex gestures at her red rimmed eyes. “I’m. I’m such a mess. I’m so sorry.”

Maggie shifts on the bed to face her, placing her hands gently on each of Alex’s cheeks, wiping the tears from her eyes softly. “You’re beautiful. And there’s nothing to be sorry for.”

Alex shakes her head and looks down at the bedspread. “I’m acting like a child. I shouldn’t be crying like this. I shouldn’t be feeling this way.”

“You’re allowed to feel whatever way you want. You worked really hard for this and you’re disappointed. That’s totally understandable.”

Alex chuckles sadly. “I just. I let everyone down.”

“Alex, you held your own with the best out there today. And with those wind conditions? It’s crazy they even let you guys compete. You are something special, Alex Danvers.”

“Maggie… I…”

“Here come on, move over a bit okay?” Maggie says, unzipping her warm up jacket. She climbs into Alex’s bed and opens her arms. “Can I hold you?”

Alex nods and cuddles up close to the curler, nestling her head into the crook of Maggie’s neck. Maggie strokes her hair and kisses the top of her head softly. “You’ve still got slopestyle, you know? You’ve got this, Alex. I believe in you.”

Alex lets her eyes flutter closed, comforted by Maggie’s words and the steady beat of her heart. Maggie’s arms tighten around her and she drifts off to sleep.

When she wakes, Maggie is gone. The only sign she was ever there is her warm up jacket, still sitting on the foot of Alex’s bed. She picks it up, running her fingers over the USA Curling team logo.

“She just left. She had a match to get to,” Lucy speaks up from where she’s lounging on her own bed, thumbing through a book.

Alex nods and hums, laying back down, Maggie’s jacket held tightly to her chest.

She was right, Alex still has slopestyle. Her best event. If she’s going to win a medal at this Olympics, it’s going to be there.

And if Maggie still believes in her, she can believe in herself too.

* * *

Kara gets in that evening. She’s staying in a hotel nearby so Alex has to drag herself out of bed to go see her.

She makes sure to pick up a to-go box of dumplings from the cafeteria. It’s not their usual sister night dinner of pizza and potstickers but it’s close enough. She got it half right at least.

Alex hasn’t even knocked on the door when Kara flings it open and launches herself into Alex, lifting her off of the floor in a bone-breaking hug. Despite her lithe figure, her sister was deceptively strong. But that’s what you get what you spend most of your time in the pool, Alex supposes.

“Kara! Air!” She manages to choke out.

“Oh! Alex! I’m sorry! Are you okay?”

Kara sets her back down on the floor and Alex rubs at her ribs. They don’t feel bruised, thankfully. She can’t imagine having to explain that to her Coach, let alone her mother. Although she’d probably find some way to blame her for Kara’s weird superhuman strength anyway.

The sisters settle in with their dinner and Kara flips through the channels, trying to find something on television that isn’t sports coverage. They end up on a rerun of a Korean drama and turn the volume down to run in the background.  

Kara shovels food into her mouth, but she’s clearly got something on her mind. Alex has always been able to tell, even when they were kids. She keeps glancing over at Alex, the crinkle on her brow deepening with each minute that passes. She opens her mouth as if to say something and Alex wonders how long it will take for her to get on with it this time.

At this rate they’ll be out of dumplings first. Alex sighs. “Alright, out with it.”

“What?”

“Kara, don’t play dumb. I know you too well. Say what you want to say.”

Kara looks conflicted. She glances out of the window, as if wishing she could jump out of it and away from the conversation. “I talked to mom.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

They sit in silence. The television in the background serving as nothing more than white noise, filling the space between the sisters that had grown over the years.

Kara picks at her fingernails. “She’s always been harder on you.”

Alex shrugs. She’s got nothing to say to that. It’s not untrue, but Kara has never acknowledged it before.

“She said you’re avoiding her calls.”

“I’m not _avoiding_ her calls.” Alex scoffs. “I was busy. And besides, why would I want to talk when she’s just going to be all passive aggressive about how if I’d worked harder…”

Kara places a hand on her shoulder, “Alex…”

“Kara, please. I don’t want to talk about this right now okay? I don’t want to think about mom or my epic failure today okay?” Alex rubs at her temples. She really doesn’t have the emotional capacity to address any Danvers family drama. She generally prefers to save that for dive bars or her therapist’s office.  “Can we just… have a normal sister night?”

“Yeah. Okay, sure.” Kara shifts on the hotel bed to fully face her sister, crossing her legs and propping her chin up in her palms. “Are we going to talk about that interview then?”

“ _Oh my god_.” Alex groans, hiding her face in her hands.

Kara laughs. “Alex, you practically ran away from the camera!”

“Please don’t remind me, I have no desire to relive that.” Alex flops backwards onto the bed in exasperation. “Hopefully it will go away.”

Kara grimaces. “Yeahhhh so about that…”

Alex turns to look at her sister and raises an eyebrow. “About _what?”_

"Listen you really probably shouldn’t go online…” Kara scratches the back of her neck.

Alex sits up and gives her sister a look, the one she used when they were teenagers and Kara would steal her shirts from her closets without asking. Kara withers and relents, typing furiously at her phone and handing it to Alex.

Right there on Twitter under trending is a hashtag with her name.

She groans inwardly and clicks on it. The first tweet is a link to her disastrous interview after yesterday’s qualifiers. She quickly scrolls past it to read the rest of the tweets.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/157448460@N02/40646961660/in/datetaken/)

She blinks. Okay. Maggie apparently wasn’t kidding about her popularity with the LGBTQ community online. That’s a lot of women tweeting about her.

If Kara has seen this… Well. Her sister already knows she’s gay. She’s actually kind of surprised that Kara hasn’t pressed her for more information about her alleged paramour in the Olympic Village.

Kara waves a hand in front of her face. “Uh. Alex? Are you okay? You zoned out a bit there.”

Alex takes a deep breath. She’s just going to rip the band-aid off and tell her sister. “Okay, Kara I need you to not freak out okay?”

“Why would I freak out? Wait.” Kara’s eyes widen. “Wait… you _are_ dating someone! Oh my god, Alex! You’re dating someone!”

Alex sits up and clamps a hand over Kara’s mouth to stop the happy squealing. “Can you keep it down, please?”

Kara nods vigorously and Alex removes her hand.

“Oh my god, this is amazing!” The swimmer shakes her hands excitedly. “Who is she? Do I know her? Does she ski? Have you _kissed_?”

Alex rolls her eyes, but she can’t quite stop the smile from creeping onto her face at the thought of Maggie - the way her dimples deepen when she sees Alex, how soft her hair is, the way it felt to have her pressed so close in bed… “You don’t know her, she’s a curler. Her name is Maggie. And whether we kissed or not is absolutely none of your business.”

“Awww, Alex! That’s so cute! What’s she like?”

Alex sighs happily. “She’s just… she’s smart, and she’s tough, and she’s just… beautiful. She’s so beautiful, Kara.”

Kara beams at her sister. “I’ve never seen you like this before.”

Alex shakes her head and laughs. “Honestly, I’ve never felt like this before.”

“That’s so amazing, I’m so happy for you! You’re all giggly oh my goshhhhh!”

Alex shrugs, still smiling. “It’s nice.”

“So are you like. Gonna come out or…?”

“I don’t know. I mean. Maggie is out…” She trails off.

“Right. Well, you know I support you no matter what, right?”

“Thanks, Kara.” Alex pulls her sister in for a hug. While they may not be as close as they used to be, it’s nice to know that she’s always got Kara in her corner.

* * *

She has Kara set her up with a Twitter account before she bids her sister goodnight.

After changing into some comfy pajamas, she aimlessly scrolls through the Alex Danvers tag again. There’s plenty of videos of her qualifying and final runs, which she makes sure to “like” in order to review with her coach later.  The more time that has passed since the final, the better she feels about it. It’ll make a good learning opportunity for the future, and at the very least was a good warmup for later in the week when she comes face to face with the slopestyle course. She’ll be more used to the altitude and the snow conditions at the Park.

There’s also quite a few people talking about her Sports Illustrated cover, although she finds herself puzzled by some of the internet slang they’re using. She’s tempted to search urban dictionary for the definition of “snack”...

She scrolls right by pictures from a photoshoot she did with Kara and a few interviews she has given. It’s all stuff she’s seen before. But then one thread catches her attention. It’s more speculation about her sexual orientation, but one of the replies has linked her Sports Illustrated interview. This must be what Maggie was referring to when she mentioned that it caused a stir on Twitter...

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/157448460@N02/40646965370/in/datetaken/)

Alex clicks the profile of the person who posted the magazine spread. It’s a young queer woman, as indicated by the profile picture and description. She seems to be a sports fan too, or at least a fan of the Olympics. It looks like she’s been live tweeting since the opening ceremonies.

She scrolls down a while until one tweet from a few days ago catches her eye. The girl had retweeted Alex's interview and then had tweeted immediately after...

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/157448460@N02/40646971460/in/datetaken/)

Alex lays her phone down on her sternum and stares up at the ceiling through the dark.

She’s thought more about this since coming to the Olympics than she ever has before. Normally, she lives a pretty low profile life. Freestyle skiing isn’t a big ticket event. Sure she has some dedicated fans, but it’s nowhere near the amount of attention that the ice skaters get. But now that she’s here… now that she’s on a national stage, being broadcast across the world? She has to really stop and think.

What would it mean if she came out?

Maggie is out and proud. She’s even spoken about it at length in interviews that Alex totally didn’t watch multiple times on YouTube. She’s talked so passionately about volunteering for LGBTQ youth groups in Gotham. About teaching them to curl. About how if she had had a queer mentor when she was younger, she would have had a much easier time growing up.

And that’s a powerful thought.

Alex had struggled with her sexuality for a long time. She had always believed that she wasn’t meant for intimacy. For relationships. But then one winter day, her entire world was turned on its head and it terrified her. She hadn't known many LGBTQ people growing up and all she remembered seeing on television were sad stories of abandonment, of homophobia, of death. But once she was able to accept the fact that she was a lesbian, her entire body just seemed a bit lighter.

What if she could be that for someone? What if just by being herself, by being open about her love for another woman - for Maggie - what if she could help a young girl like @MapleLeavesFall?

Maybe then taking that chance would be worth it.

Maybe it’s time to take that jump.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Alex's SI Cover](https://www.flickr.com/photos/157448460@N02/shares/E0jL6E)   
>  [Alex's SI Article](https://www.flickr.com/photos/157448460@N02/shares/Qv2z9Y)   
>  [Bonus Maggie article](https://www.flickr.com/photos/157448460@N02/shares/c90819)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [TaFuilLiom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaFuilLiom/profile) for the support and the nagging. We did it dude.  
> See end notes for a little extra.

Alex rocks back and forth on her heels outside of Maggie’s door.

Maybe Maggie already left for the curling arena and that’s why she isn’t answering. She probably should have texted to say that she was coming by, but she was hoping to give Maggie a surprise. She shifts the cup of coffee into her other hand, the warmth of the liquid getting to be too much. She knocks again.

This time the door swings open immediately and Alex is face to face with Maggie, a strange sense of deja vu washing over her. _“Don’t Stop Believin’” drifting down the hall. A rush of annoyance, surprise, and then… attraction._

Maggie seems to feel it too, smiling broadly and leaning up against the doorframe. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this, Danvers.”

Alex rolls her eyes fondly. “Are you going to invite me in again?”

“That depends. Will you go change into those cute pajamas?”

Alex brushes past Maggie into her room, hip checking her playfully as she passes.

Maggie grabs her by the waist and spins her around, kissing her softly as a greeting. “Good morning beautiful.”

“Good morning,” Alex sighs and smiles, completely content, giving her another quick peck. She sets the coffee cup on the table and holds out a brown paper bag. “I brought you some coffee and one of your gross double toasted bagels.”

Maggie eagerly takes the bag from her and bites into the sesame seed bagel she finds inside. “Mm I knew I liked you,” she moans happily. “Oh _god_ , this is good.”

Alex blushes and tries not to think about how she’d very much like to hear that sound in a different context. Instead she just shrugs and fiddles with one of her sleeves, trying to push those images from her mind. “I just figured I’d return the favor for my favorite breakfast delivery girl.”

Maggie tilts her head and looks her up and down with the softest gaze. “ _Thank you_. This was exactly what I needed this morning. Well… the bagel and _you_.”

Alex still isn’t quite used to all of this attention - this tenderness. It fills her up with so much warmth that she never thought she’d feel. It’s like she’s been living in black and white and meeting Maggie has helped her fill her days with color.

Maggie takes a step forward and runs her fingers over the logo on Alex’s jacket. “This doesn’t look standard issue for the freestyle skiing team though.”

Alex looks down at her warm-up jacket in confusion. Of course it’s standard issue, they’d all been given the same - _oh_. _Oh._ She’d grabbed Maggie’s by mistake. The tiny curling figure in the corner should have been a dead-giveaway, but she’d had her mind on other things when she was getting dressed today. “Is… Is that okay? I mean you left it in my room, and I must’ve just…” She trails off, reaching for the zipper to return the jacket to Maggie. Clearly they weren’t at the point of swapping clothes yet.

“No, no wait.” Maggie sets her bagel on the table and reaches for Alex’s hand on the zipper, gently lowering it. She’s smiling at Alex, her dimples in full-force and the butterflies in Alex’s stomach have returned once again. “Keep it. It looks better on you.”

Alex chuckles. “Well it actually fits me so...”

Maggie scoffs good-naturedly and pulls Alex toward her by the lapels of her jacket, pressing a lingering kiss to her lips. “You’re lucky I like you, with all of these short jokes.”

Alex returns the kiss. “Mm I suppose I am.”

Maggie pulls away with a wink to continue packing her things in her gear bag, giving Alex the opportunity to watch her. Alex does like to tease her about how tiny she is, but in reality, she fills up a room. She’s just... absolutely magnetic, and Alex can’t look away.

Maggie takes one last sip of her coffee and tosses it in the garbage before turning back to Alex. “Well, I’ve gotta get going if I’m going to make it to the Curling Centre on time. You’re busy with practice runs today, right?”

Alex nods, gathering up the trash from her own breakfast, helping Maggie tidy up. “Yeah, Coach Jones wants me to familiarize myself with the course as much as possible.”

“Your coach is a really smart guy.” Maggie grabs another coat from the hook beside the door and gives Alex a peck on the cheek. “You’ll have to tell me how it goes later.”

“And you’ll have to score a goal for me.” Alex smirks.

Maggie chuckles. “If I didn’t know you were poking fun at me…”

And as Maggie disappears down the corridor, Alex takes out her phone, typing out a quick message.

>> To Kara: Alright, I’m leaving now.

>> From Kara: YES!!! Operation Bonspiel Surprise is GO.

She waits fifteen minutes, enough time for Maggie to have secured her own transportation to the Gangneung Curling Centre, and then enters the elevator herself.

* * *

 

“Excuse me! Sorry! Um, yeah just uh… trying to get through here!”

Alex raises an eyebrow at Kara. Her sister is trying to juggle an armful of snacks and several large poster boards on her way to her seat.

She flops down next to Alex and heaves a sigh of relief, stuffing a handful of fries in her mouth. “Ugh sorry it took so long! You would not believe the lines in the cafeteria.”

Alex shrugs, stealing a fry for herself. “It hasn’t started yet, you’re fine. What’s all this?”

Kara beams excitedly, jumping up and down in her seat. “Ooh! Well I thought, hey, you know what would be really cool? Signs!”

“Signs?”

“Yes!” Kara shoves a poster board into Alex’s hands, glitter raining down onto her lap. “See? For Maggie! Because okay, I know it’s a surprise that we’re here, but like… what if it could be _even more_ of a surprise?”

Alex turns the sign over to reveal _We Don’t Take Sawyer for Granite!!!_ written in red and blue glitter pen in large block letters along with a doodle of Maggie holding up a curling stone and a broom.

Alex shakes her head, smiling at her sister’s antics and the terrible pun. “It’s perfect, Kara. Maggie is going to love it.”

Kara leans back in her chair proudly, setting her own sign on the floor and continuing to shovel food into her mouth. Alex gazes out into the arena where four curling sheets are laid out. The sheet closest to their seats will hold the USA V OAR round robin, which means they’ll get an unobstructed view of Maggie.  

Bagpipes start up, and all of the teams are led into the arena. First Japan, then Great Britain, the Olympic Athletes from Russia and… Team USA. _Maggie_. She and the rest of the team, two redheads and another brunette, stand at the end of the curling sheet, smiling and waving as the camera moves past them. Maggie looks really good out there in her white and blue jersey - totally in her element as she steps onto the sheet with her broom to perform a few practice slides across the ice. She looks pleased with herself, turning and stretching at the other end.

“So that’s Maggie, huh?”

“Hm?”

“The tiny one with the stick thing over her shoulder. Not wearing a jacket?” Kara points out onto the arena. “I mean I googled her when you mentioned her, but she looks so much smaller in person.”

Alex smiles. “Yeah, that’s her.”

Maggie turns around to face the crowd, and a large grin stretches across her face as she catches sight of her in the stands. Alex can see her talking animatedly with the rest of her team before waving over.

“Awww she looks so happy that you’re here! She really had no idea, huh?”

“I told her I was practicing. It meant so much that she was at my final, I just… wanted to show her that I care too.”

“Awwww Alex! It’s like you’ve been shot with some kind of… Love ray! You guys are so sweet!”

Alex just shrugs her shoulders and directs Kara’s attention back to the arena, where Maggie’s match is starting.

The lead player, a woman with short red hair, starts at the end of the sheet with a red stone and slides forward. As she releases the stone, she watches carefully as it drifts down the length of the sheet, shouting orders as Maggie and the other brunette frantically brush the ice in front of the stone before it comes to rest inside the middle white ring of the house. The skip kneels down by the house, stopwatch in hand. Alex was intrigued when Maggie explained the rules to her - she’d described it a bit like chess on ice - but she finds herself unable to concentrate on the game, completely unable to look at anyone on the ice other than Maggie.

It gets to Maggie’s turn, and Alex has never seen Maggie at work before, but she’s really glad that she decided to come today because the curler is cool and confident and collected and _wow_ do her biceps look good.

They score four points in the seventh end, pushing the score to 10-3 in favor of the USA, and the opposing team concedes, which is good because Alex can tell that Kara is getting antsy. She’d spent the first few ends chattering away with a few fans sitting behind them and then had Alex explain the rules of curling as best she could, but by end six Alex could hear her sister’s stomach grumbling, which meant she was fading fast.

* * *

When Maggie spots Alex waiting by the exit of the arena, she pulls her into a quick hug that leaves Alex feeling warm and tingly. When she pulls away, the look on her face makes Alex swoon.

“I can’t believe you’re here! You sneak!”

Alex smiles shyly. “Of course. You didn’t think I’d let you come to all of my events and then not come see you curl?”

Maggie just shrugs one shoulder, and Alex is suddenly struck by the fact that she might just make Maggie nervous too. That maybe the curler feels the same rush when they touch. Or when they _kiss_.

Alex hears a cough from behind her, and she realizes that she’s been staring at Maggie for probably longer than is socially acceptable. Kara comes to stand next to her and sticks out her hand for Maggie to shake.

“Hi!” Kara greets cheerfully. “I’m Alex’s little sister, Kara. She’s told me _ALL_ about you.”

Maggie hazards a glance at Alex, who ducks her head to hide her increasinlgy red face. “It’s nice to meet you, Kara. I’m really glad you guys could make it.”

“Of course! I hope you liked the signs! Did you see them?”

“I loved them. Actually, Gordon, our skip, probably got the biggest laugh out of them.” Maggie jabs her thumb in the direction of her teammates. “She loves a good pun.”

Kara beams. “Well it was really cool. Even though I had no idea what was going on half the time.”

Alex rolls her eyes and sticks her hands in her pockets. “I tried to explain the rules, but…” She shrugs.

“I totally get it.” Maggie laughs, touching Alex’s arm lightly. “Well. Thank you. Really. It means a lot.”

A voice rings out, and all three turn towards it to see Maggie’s teammates coming to join them. The redhead with the short hair holds up a hand in greeting. “Hey, Mags! Is this your girl?”

Alex meets Maggie’s panicked gaze, and she gives her a small nod, letting her know it’s ok. The idea that Maggie talks about her when she’s not around makes her pulse quicken.

Maggie’s gaze softens, and then she turns to address the rest of the group. “Yeah, uh. Everyone, this is Alex - freestyle skiing - and her sister Kara. Alex, Kara, this is my curling team: Kate Kane, Renee Montoya, and Barbara Gordon.”

Alex smiles. “It’s really nice to meet you guys.”

“It’s even nicer to meet you.” Renee snorts. “Maggie literally never shuts up about you.”

Maggie glares at her teammate, who holds her hands up in surrender.

The other redhead with glasses - Barbara, Alex corrects herself - laughs. “She really doesn’t, though. It’s good. She’s much less grumpy when we have early practices now.”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Maggie stresses, trying to change the subject. “We were all thinking of going to grab a drink after this, if you guys would like to join us?”

“I’d really like that,” Alex says, feeling like she’s walking on air. Not only does Maggie talk about her to her teammates, she wants her to hang out with them. To be a part of her life.

“Alex _we can’t_.” Kara is pouting at her now. “We’re having lunch with mom, remember?”

Alex groans. Of course. She totally forgot. She turns towards Maggie to apologize, but Maggie stops her with a hand on her bicep. “Hey, Danvers, don’t worry about it. I’ll see you later.”

Alex nods and Maggie pulls her in for a quick hug to whisper in her ear. “You can do this, Alex.”

Her heart swells with happiness from the unwavering support of the curler. She gives Maggie and her team one last congratulations, and then she and Kara head off.

* * *

Alex and Kara meet up with their mother back at the Village a few hours later. Alex hadn’t been particularly keen on seeing her, considering how they’d left things, but rarely are the three of them in the same place at once anymore. She could make nice for an afternoon. For her sister.

It’s actually fine throughout lunch, downright friendly even. They talk about some difficult patients that her mother has had at the hospital, about Alex’s favorite professor, about how Kara and Mike are planning a vacation in the Bahamas when she gets back to the US. Nothing too deep. Nothing that would cause a rift in their already fragile relationship. Alex supposes that she has Kara to thank. She’s always been the best buffer between her and their mother.

But by the time they reach the part of the Village tour that consists of Alex’s room, it seems all topics of conversation have been exhausted. And so then is Kara, who keeps looking down at her phone like she wishes she could be anywhere else. And honestly, Alex can’t blame her. Without Kara acting as a facilitator, everything Alex has to say is stunted and awkward, and her mother doesn’t fare much better.

Kara coughs to break the tension. “So uhhh... Mike is calling me! So um, I’m gonna just…” She motions with her thumb towards the door, slowly backing towards it. “I’m gonna take this call and uh, I’ll be right back?”

Alex shoots her a pleading look, but Kara has clearly decided that Alex is on her own now. She turns back around to face her mother, who is looking at her almost pityingly.

“Alexandra, can we sit?”

Alex winces at the use of her full name, but motions towards her bed. She sits down next to her mother at the head of the bed and fiddles with the edge of the duvet as she waits for the imminent lecture.

Her mom just sighs. “I don’t know how this happened.”

Alex stills her fingers. “How what happened, mom?”

“I know we’ve never been close, not like you and your father. You two were like peas in a pod…” Her gaze drifts towards Alex’s goggles, sitting on the table. “Always coming home late from the slopes, covered in snow...”

“I remember,” Alex says wistfully. “You always had warm towels and hot chocolate waiting.”

“And you’d talk a mile a minute about a new trick you’d learned. Your father was so proud of you.”

Alex looks down at her hands in her lap. She’s not sure when they began shaking. She takes a deep breath to steel her nerves.

“I’m just not sure when it all went so wrong.” Her mother presses on. “When your father died...”

“Mom, I-”

“Alexandra, please… I need to say this.” She places a hand on Alex’s knee. “When your father died… I know I pulled away from you, and I’m so sorry.”

Alex tightens her jaw and tries to blink back the tears at the mention of her father. “I was fourteen, mom.”

“I know. You just… Reminded me so much of him… I… I couldn’t…”

And the floodgates break.

“You couldn’t what? You couldn’t look at me?”

She couldn’t stop the tears streaming from her eyes. Because for so long - for _so_ long she’d felt so isolated. For so long she’d felt like her mom didn’t want her. And Kara had promised her that it wasn’t true, but Kara had no idea what it felt like. Because Eliza was at all of Kara’s swim meets. Took Kara to her after school programs. Sat in on her parent-teacher conferences. But it seemed like every time Alex looked out into the crowd at her own ski competitions, she had never been able to find a friendly face. She’d had four science fairs in high school and her mom had only come to one. And even then, an emergency at work pulled her away.

And she knows now that it wasn’t all that it seemed. Her mother was trying to raise two children alone, and she was the oldest - responsible. But it’s so hard to let go of that hurt that she felt as a teenager.

“Oh Alexandra… _Alex_. I’m so sorry. I’m _so, so_ sorry. You’ve always had to be so strong.”

Alex just sobs, and her mother pulls her into her arms and holds her so tightly she feels like she could break.

Eliza rubs her back soothingly. “I know I can’t change the past, but… maybe we can try again?”

Alex nods and pulls back to look at her mother with red-rimmed eyes. “You being here is a good start.”

Her mother wipes a tear from her cheek. “I’d love it if we could talk more.”

“Yeah… I. Actually. There’s something… There’s something I want to tell you but...”

Eliza waits patiently as Alex rambles.

“It’s just. It’s something about me.” She gets up and paces around her room nervously. “And I’ve known for a while, but it’s. It hasn’t felt real until…”

She stops, leaning on the small table where she and Lucy pile all of their gear, back turned to her mother. Not sure how to say what she’s trying to say.

“Does this have anything to do with the woman whose jacket you’re wearing?”

Alex startles. Is she that obvious? Have she and Maggie been spotted out in the Village? “H-how did you?”

“That isn’t the logo for the sport in which you are participating.”

Alex’s hand subconsciously touches the stitching on the breast of the jacket.

“I… It’s…” She didn’t think anyone would notice. It looks the same as her own freestyle skiing jacket after all. And the logo is so tiny…

Eliza rises from the bed and walks over toward Alex, still turned away. She rests a hand gently on her back. “Alex, sweetheart, why is it so hard for you to tell me?”

Alex turns to face her mother, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, gaze fixed to the floor. “I just. You already think I’m a disappointment. I didn’t want to let you down.”

“Why would you being gay ever let me down?”

Alex feels tears building up again at the tenderness in her mother’s voice. She hasn’t heard that in so many years. Not since…

She swallows heavily, trying to push the image of a lonely girl sobbing, clutching her father’s spare ski jacket - the one he wasn’t wearing - out of her mind.

“I just…” She looks at her mother and tries to stop her hands from shaking. “I know my life isn’t at all what you’d hoped for. I know you didn’t want me to ski. Not after…”

“Alex… I am so sorry if I have ever made you feel like you were anything less than exceptional. I love you. However you are. Whether you’re a doctor or a skier. Or whether you’re straight or gay.” Eliza holds out her arms and wraps them around her daughter. “I _love_ you.”

And with that, Alex breaks again, sobbing into her mother’s shoulder. Eliza tightens the hug, and while Alex knows that their relationship can’t be fixed overnight, it’s mending.

* * *

When Maggie asks her out on a proper date the next night, Alex expects maybe a walk around the village. Dinner at one of the team houses perhaps.

She certainly doesn’t expect Maggie to show up at her door with a bouquet of flowers and to whisk her away from the Olympic Village to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the city. Apparently the hockey team discovered it their first night in South Korea and recommended it to some of Maggie’s teammates. It’s rather cozy, and quite busy, and the food is amazing.

But mostly Alex is just pleased that she can spend some time with Maggie without worrying. No one knows who they are here - they could be any American tourists - and Alex loves how intimate it feels. She’s never felt so comfortable with someone before, particularly on a date. She’s so used to having awkward, stilted conversation about the weather or about how “skiing is for rich old white guys, right?”

It’s so different with Maggie. They talk about anything and everything, effortlessly gliding from one topic to the next and Alex finds herself opening up quicker than she ever has before - sharing stories about her father taking her up on the ski-lift for the very first time and telling her about how devastated she was when she was called to the office at school that fateful day in February.

Alex entwines their fingers over the table as they each sip their drinks, reveling in the contact. Maggie insisted on soju cocktails - they were celebrating after all - but Alex is sure that the warmth she feels could be attributed more to her company than the alcohol. She sighs happily. “You know, I really like this. Being out with you. Holding your hand.”

Maggie smiles softly. “I really like it too.”

“You know, I’ve… I’ve been thinking.” Alex rubs her thumb over the back of Maggie’s hand. “I was watching your interviews on Youtube the other night with Kara.”

“Oh yeah? Your sister checking up on me? Making sure I’m not a serial killer or something?”

Alex rolls her eyes. “She knows you’re not a serial killer. And no. I’d just… told her about you and she gets excitable. Now stop distracting me.”

“If you think this is distracting…” Maggie teases, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow suggestively.

Alex blushes. “You’re terrible.”

“But you love it.” Maggie’s eyes are shining with mirth. She takes a long sip of her cocktail, giving Alex a chance to regroup. “So you were stalking me on the internet?”

“I was _watching your interviews_. From before the Olympics? You uh. You did that one for that website. The um. The lesbian one?”

Maggie tilts her head a bit to the side, like she isn’t quite sure where Alex is going with this. And honestly, Alex isn’t entirely sure herself.

She takes a deep breath and carries on. “You uh. You talked about being out. And… And how important that is to you.”

“Ah.” Maggie nods in recognition. “Yeah, I remember that one.”

“You just… you got a lot of attention for that.”

“I did.” Maggie swirls the remaining liquid around in her glass thoughtfully. “You know, when I was younger, I never would have imagined telling so many people about my personal life. But… you know I worked as a cop, right? Before all of this? Still do, actually.”

Alex nods as her brain briefly conjures up an image of Maggie in a police uniform, complete with starched pants and a gleaming badge. Not to mention the handcuffs… Alex hopes her blush isn’t as visible as it feels.

Maggie is gazing pensively at their hands, her own resting lightly on Alex’s larger one. “I just, I see a lot of kids out there on the street. Kids who were like me.”

Alex moves her hand to rub Maggie’s forearm. “Oh Maggie…”

Maggie smiles, but it doesn’t quite meet her eyes. “I just want those kids to know that they aren’t all of the things that their parents - or society - says about them. That there are people like them out there, living their lives openly. So I go on tv or the internet and do interviews. And I volunteer with the local LGBTQ youth center.”

Alex can tell there’s more to her story than Maggie is saying. She can tell by the way her voice wavers, ever so slightly, and Alex’s heart breaks for a much younger Maggie Sawyer who can’t have had it easy.

“Maggie… That’s amazing. You’re amazing.”

Maggie just shrugs one shoulder, always humble. “I just… I want to give them some hope.”

Not for the first time, Alex is struck by how strong Maggie is. For whatever trauma she’s had in her life, she has persevered and uses her platform as an Olympian and as a police woman to effect real change. And Alex is hit by a niggling feeling that maybe, someday, she might not be enough for this woman.

Maggie notices her sudden quiet and touches her knee gently under the table. “Is everything ok?”

Her first thought is to brush it off. To pretend that she’s fine. But the way Maggie is looking at her, so open and vulnerable…

She takes a deep breath. “I just… Will you get tired of this? Of being with me if I’m not…”

Maggie shakes her head and smiles. “Oh, Alex, no… You deserve to come out on your own terms. I didn’t have that chance, and I would never push you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. Just know that if and when you do, I’ll be there to support you. I like you. And I really like what’s going on between us.”

Alex sighs, relieved. “I really like it too. And you. And I think… I think I could be ready.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Alex leans over the table and kisses Maggie softly before pulling away and smirking. “Definitely ready… for dessert.”

The curler chuckles and stares at her fondly. “You think we can find a good tiramisu in South Korea?”

* * *

They walk down the street, arm in arm, not going anywhere in particular. Just enjoying each other’s company and the ambiance. Neon lights flash on building signs advertising food and fun, and music flows from open doors. It starts to softly snow, and Alex stares up and the sky in wonder.

When she was little, her father brought home a snow globe for her mother from Italy on one of his skiing trips. Alex loved that snow globe. Loved picking it up and swirling it around, watching as the tiny flurries twirled and then settled. She feels like that now. Like she’s inside that souvenir. Trapped in this magical moment with Maggie by her side. And it feels so right. So wonderful. So _perfect_. That she’s struck with a need to make sure that she never lets Maggie go.

She tucks herself closer to Maggie, despite the fact that she’s the taller one by several inches, and gathers all of her courage.

“So… you like me, huh?”

The corner of Maggie’s mouth quirks up. “I did say that, didn’t I?”

“So, are we…?” Alex continues.

“Are we what? Olympians? Gal pals?” Maggie teases.

“You know what I mean...” She looks around nervously and whispers, “ _Girlfriends_.”

Maggie stops in the middle of the street and pulls Alex close. “We are if you want to be.”

And in that moment Alex is struck by just how gorgeous Maggie is, with the neon lights reflecting in her eyes, her cheeks tinged pink from the cold. She’s so tough on the ice, but so, _so_ soft with her. And Alex is so filled with affection that all she can do is nod.

And when her lips touch Maggie’s, right there in the middle of a crowded street in South Korea, she feels like she’s come home.

* * *

She should be nervous.

Everyone says she should be nervous.

It’s the first question any of the reporters at the Snow Park ask her when she gets there in the morning before qualifiers.

And Kara had chattered to her all about how she sweated so much before her first Olympic final, she was worried she’d slip off of her starting podium.

Her mother had pulled her into a hug  and assured her that it’s okay to be nervous, she’s a winner no matter what.

Even her Coach felt like she needed to be handled with kid gloves.

And she gets it. Really she does. She’s worked so incredibly hard to get here, and there’s a lot of pressure not to fuck it all up, especially after the disappointing turn of events at the halfpipe finals.

She’s not nervous though.

She’d absolutely nailed her first run in qualifiers - her score was enough to guarantee her one of the last run positions in the finals. That gave her the ability to let go and enjoy her second qualifying run, nailing a few of her favorite tricks and just enjoying the thrill of being in the air.

Slopestyle is her bread and butter. She feels more comfortable on a slopestyle course than anywhere else.

But it’s not just that. Something inside her has shifted. For so many years she’s kept parts of herself hidden. Focused solely on skiing and school. But now, after coming to the Olympics, making friends, competing at such a high level, and meeting Maggie… She feels like a new person. She’s ready to let go of all of her hang ups that have held her back for so long.

This is what she was born for.

She has one shot to get this medal, and she’s not nervous.

She’s excited, she’s ready, she _wants_ this.

So no, her palms aren’t sweating underneath her gloves. Her stomach isn’t twisted all up in knots. She’s cool as a cucumber.

She’s Alex Danvers: slopestyle phenom. And she’s absolutely, one hundred percent, going to go out there, lay down the best run of her life, and bring home a gold medal.

* * *

She doesn’t even remember her last run in the finals.

One minute she’s standing at the top of the course, her heart thumping in her ears, her coach’s voice ringing through her head, telling her to give it her all, to not hold back, and the next minute she’s standing down at the bottom, out of breath, awaiting her fate.

Her score is phenomenal. The crowd absolutely roars, and one of her fellow freestyle skiers claps her on the shoulder and whistles that she’s never seen anyone ski like her before.

She’s at the top of the scoreboard and her entire body feels numb. She’s never had an out of body experience before but she’s pretty sure this is how it feels. It’s as if she’s watching herself on an old tube tv.

She can’t look at the other skiers.

She has to focus on something else. Something to keep her grounded in this plane of existence.

She catches Maggie’s eye from the crowd. The curler is standing up front, right there next to her mother and sister. And just that visual alone is enough to make her heart leap. She hasn’t introduced Maggie to her mother yet, but the fact that she’s there makes the thought that has been swirling around in her head since the night of their dinner date settle and solidify into a plan. She’s happy. Being with Maggie makes her so incredibly happy. And she wants to tell the world.

The last skier slides into the finish zone and a hush settles over the crowd.

But then.

Then her coach is hugging her and cameras are flashing and the crowd is cheering her name.

She moves on autopilot. From reporter to reporter, camera crew to camera crew. And then she’s standing on the podium, heart swelling as her national anthem is played. A gold medal is placed around her neck and she’s dimly aware that she’s started crying.

Kara leaps into her, picking her up and spinning her around and her mother is there by her side, pressing a kiss to her cheek and whispering the words she’s always longed to hear. _I’m so proud of you Alex. I’ve always been so proud of you_.

And then there’s Maggie. And one look into her eyes conveys an avalanche of emotions. Happiness, pride, and something more that Alex recognizes but can’t believe.

Kara pulls over a reporter she’s friendly with from CatCo. They’d apparently met at one of her photoshoots and are now the best of friends. Of course. She shouldn’t have expected any different.

The reporter shakes her hand and congratulates her. “How did it feel, standing on that podium?”

She’s so overwhelmed with emotion all she can do is shake her head in disbelief. “Honestly, I can’t even begin to describe. This has been my dream for so many years.”

“I saw your sister is here as well to cheer you on. The Olympics are really a family affair for the Danvers.”

“I just… I remember watching my father up there on the podium and I just, I wanted to make him proud today.”

“I think you did.” The reporter says. “So are you thinking about competing in Beijing in 2022, or is this it for Alex Danvers?”

She laughs. “I’m not actually sure. I’m almost 30... Maybe? I can’t count it out. It really depends on where I’m at in four years...” She trails off as she catches a glimpse of Maggie, still standing with her family and her coach and she makes a split second decision. “Actually, could you excuse me for a minute? I… There’s… something I have to do.”

“What? Hey, wait-” The reporter tries to get her attention but she’s already trudging through the snow, mind on her mission. She’s vaguely aware of the camera crew tracking her movement, but she can’t find it in herself to care.

She stops in front of Maggie, who starts to open her mouth to congratulate her, but stops at the intensity on Alex’s face.

Alex bites her lip and her eyes dart down to Maggie’s own and then back up - an unspoken question - _can I kiss you?_ Maggie’s gaze drifts to the crowd and the camera crew watching from close by. _Are you sure? All these people?_ But Alex just nods resolutely and Maggie smiles, bright and shining. _Yes. Go for it._ And then Alex’s hands are on Maggie’s cheeks and they’re kissing and the entire world just falls away.

When she pulls back, a lifetime later, Maggie is still grinning. “Well, Danvers, I guess that’s one way to do it.”

And as the camera flashes increase and several reporters vie for her attention, all Alex Danvers can do is laugh and continue to kiss her curler. the gold medal around her neck glimmering in the sun.

* * *

She wakes up the next morning to her phone buzzing. She stretches languidly, becoming aware of several things all at once. One, she has 17 missed calls, 43 text messages, and more Twitter mentions than she can count. Two, the only thing she’s wearing is her gold medal. And three, she’s most definitely not alone.

She shifts in her bed, rolling over to find soft brown tresses falling across her pillow in waves. _Maggie stayed over last night._ She sighs happily, remembering how after they had all gone out to celebrate, Maggie had dragged her off for a more private “celebration.” She snakes an arm around the other woman’s waist and kisses her bare shoulder.

Alex feels, rather than hears her chuckle, and she’s quick to apologize. “God, I’m so sorry, I hope that didn’t wake you up. It’s probably been like that all night.”

Maggie rolls over to face Alex, propping her head up on her hand, tracing the medal with her finger. “Oh, I was sufficiently distracted by other things.”

Alex’s entire body warms. “Oh yeah? And what are those things?”

“I think you have a pretty good idea.” Maggie grins and trails a finger over Alex’s collarbone.

Alex’s phone continues to buzz, and she groans, flopping back onto her pillow.

Maggie raises an eyebrow. “Do you want to get that?”

Alex looks at her phone and then back at Maggie, before turning it off and pulling Maggie closer.

“They can wait.”

 

**One Year Later**

Alex unlocks the door to her apartment and tugs off her boots tiredly. She’d had a long day in the lab, followed by several hours on the slopes with Coach Jones, and she’s completely wiped.

A voice from the kitchen calls out, “You had better not be getting snow all over the carpet, babe.”

Alex smiles at the affection seeping through the admonishment. It had been a whole six months since Maggie moved in with her, and honestly she couldn’t be happier.

She unzips her ski jacket, hanging it up on the hook by the door next to Maggie’s police issue parka and makes her way to the kitchen where her girlfriend is making dinner. _Girlfriend_. Alex sighs happily. She’ll never get tired of that. They’d just celebrated their one-year anniversary last week, in fact. Maggie had surprised Alex by taking some time off of work and whisking her away on a blissful European adventure. They’d gone skiing in Chamonix, shared a romantic walk along the banks of the Seine at night, and stayed several nights in a cozy bed and breakfast on the coast of Ireland. She only wished it had been longer.

She thinks briefly of the small box tucked inside her sock drawer. Maybe they could return for their honeymoon…

Alex wraps her arms around Maggie’s waist and settles her chin onto Maggie’s shoulder, giving her a quick kiss on the neck.

Maggie relaxes back into Alex. “Welcome home. Dinner should be ready shortly.”

“I knew I loved you for a reason.”

“Hopefully for more reasons than just my skills in the kitchen!” Maggie chuckles as she retreats from the kitchen.

She moves Maggie’s running shoes from one of the barstools and takes a seat at the island so that she can watch her work. Maggie is always leaving her things around the apartment, but Alex can’t find it in herself to be mad. After all, she knows she’s got her own quirky habits, and Maggie seems to love her regardless.

She flips through the mail. Ads. Bills. More bills. Her monthly subscription to _Scientific American_. Nothing too exciting. But then…

Alex holds up a package. “Hey Mags, is this what I think this is?”

Maggie turns off the burners on the stove and wipes her hands on a kitchen towel before joining Alex on the other side of the island. “I hadn’t had a chance to look yet. Want to open it now?”

Alex opens the seal on the package to reveal three glossy copies of a magazine - _The Advocate_ \- with the cover story printed in bright bold letters: _Flawless Execution: How Alex Danvers Struck Gold, and Won a Medal in the Process._ Alex runs her fingers reverently over the headline and their own smiling faces.

She flips through the pages until she gets to her interview - _their interview_.

> _A year after the kiss that had everyone talking - Alex Danvers opens up about life on and off the slope. Joking about that moment now, Alex reflects, “I knew it was a big moment, for me at least. I just didn’t expect it to be so…” She struggles for words, looking at her girlfriend, none other than fellow Winter Olympian Maggie Sawyer. “I didn’t realize it would go viral.”_
> 
> _Needless to say, when pictures of the kiss were retweeted tens of thousands of times, it was clear that this moment meant more to the world than either athlete could have imagined._
> 
> _“The outpouring of support was just… unbelievable.” Alex shakes her head in disbelief. “So many young women were tweeting at me and making fan art of us even. Oh god and then the memes!”_
> 
> **_Was there one reaction that stood out to you?_ **
> 
> _“There was one - a teenage girl - that tweeted at me and said that seeing us had given her the courage to come out.” Alex motions for a tissue to wipe her eye. “She thanked me. Thanked us. And that just struck such a chord with me.”_
> 
> _Maggie nods in agreement. “Visibility is so important to young people in the community. Representation really does matter.”_
> 
> **_Was anyone aware of what you had planned?_ **
> 
> _Both woman share a laugh. “No,” Alex admits. “It was completely spur of the moment.”_
> 
> **_Not even your mother or sister, world champion sister and Olympic gold medalist, Kara Danvers?_ **
> 
> _“Nope, not even Kara.” The two women hold each other’s gaze, the love they feel for each other evident to anyone in their vicinity. “I just saw her standing there, smiling - just like that - and I thought… I have to do this.”_
> 
> _“I was so stunned in the moment, because we hadn’t talked about it at all. But I was so proud of her. I’m still so proud of her.” Maggie squeezes Alex’s hand._

Maggie kisses her on the shoulder softly and she smiles. The headline was right. Her medal looks great up on the mantle, but that victory pales in comparison to the love she’d found with Maggie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The Advocate cover](https://www.flickr.com/gp/157448460@N02/5HT75o)   
> 


End file.
